Jimbaran, Bali

JIMBARAN

Our final few days in Bali were spent in Jimbaran a bit more than an hour and a half from Ubud. Jimbaran was quite different from Ubud and Seminyak. It was a less congested, more relaxing beach area with sidewalks. People tend to come here for the pristine beaches, the amazing sunsets and the fresh seafood.

Our accommodation game on this trip improved with every stay. Our Ubud resort was beautiful, but we weren’t able to easily leave to grab more reasonably priced meals in town. We had requested a family room in Jimbaran. I just thought that would be more beds, but we had a ton of space as well. We didn’t have our own private pool, but there was one on our floor, just around the corner. Maeve and Liam had their own room. It was a great set up…check it out.

Once we were settled, we enjoyed a great early dinner at an Indian restaurant in the hotel. Afterwords, we decided to visit the beach. It was a five minute walk to the beach, but the hotel offered shuttle rides whenever we wanted. The hotel also had its own club area on the beach, so we had a private section to eat, drink or sunbathe. We went to hang out and watch the sunset, but Maeve wasn’t feeling well, so the two of us went for a walk on the beach to catch our first sunset there before heading back to the hotel.

As was customary, our first full day was spent by the pool just hanging out. The staff came around and showed us our options for nearby sites. Most sites were easier to get to, but difficult to return because taxis weren’t always available in more remote spots. There is so much traffic and travel by car can be nauseating, so we were happy with capturing our sunset pictures and hanging out at the beach.

One of our original goals was to find a resort on the beach and take advantage of their facilities for the day. We knew the Four Seasons was nearby. During one sunset walk, we stopped by and asked about reserving a cabana. We found out we could hang out on day beds for the whole day for a minimum cost for food and drink. We were planning to eat lunch there anyway and with four of us, it was not a problem. The day beds were first come, first serve, so the staff told us when to arrive. We enjoyed the entire day with impeccable service.

Maeve and I spent our last night walking on the beach and taking in the sunset once more. Feeling relaxed, rejuvenated and satisfied that we captured the sunsets and views Bali had to offer, we were ready to take on our next country.

Ubud, Bali

UBUD

After four days in Seminyak, we headed to Ubud. We arranged transportation through our hotel. The ride was not as cheap as advertised in some travel blogs. The extra cost may have been due to a family of four with quite a bit of luggage, but it still only cost about $25 for the 90 minute ride.

Before arriving, we researched a ton of villas in Ubud. We wanted to be closer to town. Like most places, the further from the city center, the cheaper the accommodation. However, most places further away offered regular transport to the city center. We would have preferred the flexibility to come and go when we pleased. In the end, we booked a villa within a resort near town, which is a bit unusual for Ubud.

We knew we had luxurious accommodations the second we arrived. The resort had a secured entrance. Once our luggage was unloaded, we were greeted with drinks and a blessing ceremony.

It was only a short wait for our villa. We were directed to a restaurant and were again treated to drinks and a rice pudding-like treat. The grounds were lovely and we were able to check out more of the property while cruising on a golf cart ride to our villa.

Our villa was gorgeous. It was a different set up than most we had seen. The kids had their own room in a separate building. They didn’t like it too much as the beds were too close together. The large, private pool was between both rooms. The refrigerator and table were outside. Our shower was also outside, just off our bathroom. This was our paradise for the next six days.

Breakfast was included. It was a lovely buffet, but often crowded. On one occasion we saw the geese heading out for a walk.

We took the free shuttle into town on our first full day. We didn’t have anything planned other than getting a ‘lay of the land’ and finding a cheap lunch, Downtown Ubud was crowded, but manageable. It was not as chaotic as Seminyak. There were sidewalks on each side of the streets.. We walked around, checked out the bridges and a few temples.

On the second day we arranged for everyone to have a spa day. Yes, even Liam was went along with it. We found a local woman named Murni (Tamarind Spa) with an excellent reputation. Over the years she has become more popular and has built up her property to include guest rooms and a pool. We all received body massages, salt scrubs, a bath with tea and fruit and a facial. It was heaven!

Our first proper excursion was to the Monkey Forest. We were able to walk there from town. This was an interesting spot as you can just walk around and observe the monkeys everywhere. We were warned not to tease, feed or stare at the monkeys. They would come up and take your water bottle if taunted. Some tourists couldn’t help themselves. They seemed to enjoy messing around with the water bottles and they let the monkeys crawl all over them. None of us were keen on this. There were also local staff members walking around. Some set up photoshoots for interested tourists.

There were many excursions available just outside of Ubud. The family wasn’t too interested in spending more time traveling around Bali in a car. In fact, the kids weren’t interested in doing much at all. I usually feel the need to go and explore, so I set out to find the Campuhan Ridge trail on my own. Plenty of folks have blogged about this hike so I had no trouble finding it. It was about 6 kilometers round trip. I really enjoyed taking my time and capturing all sorts of images along the way. I did get to see one brave girl enjoying the cliff swing experience.

On one of our lasts nights, there was an Indonesian holiday. During the day, we participated in a celebration that was not well-planned. We thought we would be entertained with music and dancing. We quickly discovered, we were the entertainment. That did not go over well, but we got through it.

Later that evening, Maeve and I went to downtown Ubud for dinner. We tried to get the shuttle back to the resort. We had poor timing as part of the holiday celebration included a parade….mostly local folks walking in the streets. What should have been a five minute return took over 30 minutes of winding roads in a van full of other guests in the same situation. Everyone was packed in and Maeve and I had to sit on the floor. Needless to say, by the time we got back Maeve was sick and I was at my wit’s end. I just wish someone had warned us and we would have avoided that whole situation.

Aside from that last experience, we had a very relaxing and enjoyable visit to Ubud. Our resort was lovely and it afforded us the freedom to walk around some rice paddies, eat some delicious Indonesian dishes and enjoy the privacy of our own villa and pool whenever we wanted. This was the perfect arrangement for a family on the move.

Bali, Indonesia - Seminyak

Bali was intended as a relaxing, two-week family vacation. We also chose Bali because we hadn’t been to Indonesia and we heard we could stay in some lovely villas for less than most summer get-away locations. The somewhat difficult part was selecting where to visit and how long to stay there. There are hundreds of villas in most areas, so besides location, you need to consider what each has to offer.

Eventually we selected three locations in Bali: Seminyak, Ubud, and Jimbaran. Ubud was a no-brainer. It is inland and contains many popular, cultural sites. Jimbaran is a lovely beach area known for seafood and a quieter atmosphere. We started in Seminyak. It is a beach area and one friend advised to avoid it. I think mainly because it is known to be touristy and crowded. We did not heed that warning as we had read some other positive traits about the area and thought we’d give it a shot.

We just finished a five hour flight from Taiwan. We were on EVA Airlines again and we had another positive experience. It pretty much ended there. The airport in Bali was crowded. Our plane landed with several other planes at about the same time, so there was a mass exodus toward immigration. We had our forms completed, but needed to make a bathroom stop before entering the lines. However, there were lines in the women’s bathroom as well and that set us back in the immigration queue about 30 minutes. We had been in lengthy theme park-like lines before, some longer, but this one did not move quickly. I’d say it took about 45 minutes to get through it. We thought our luggage would be waiting for us, but it hadn’t even been unloaded off the plane. We waited another 20 minutes or so before we received all of it. The whole airport exit experience took us more than two hours .

SEMINYAK

Traffic in Bali is chaotic at best. One reason we chose Seminyak as our first stop was its proximity to the airport. We thought it would be 30 minutes, but it turned out to be an hour ride. In addition, we were in need of money and water. Our driver tried to get us to purchase food and sim cards for our phones. We just wanted to get to our villa.

Exhausted and hungry, we finally arrived at our villa around 6:30 pm. We dumped our bags and headed off to find something to eat. We knew there was a Chinese restaurant across the street and that it was expensive. We were told our other options were a 15 minute walk away. Chinese it was. Of course, the next day we found several closer and less expensive options.

Generally speaking, we like to relax the day following a travel day. We had a nice 2 bedroom villa with a small, private pool. Breakfast was included and delivered to our villa each morning, so we were set.

Our villa in Seminyak

Later we ventured out to get our lay of the land and grab some groceries. Villas are scattered throughout this small town. Many villas are within a compound, set back further from the narrow, busy roads. We found it quite difficult to walk around and get to the main part of town. The whole area was packed with people, cars and motorbikes.

We did have a delicious, healthy lunch at a vegetarian restaurant that we recognized on a list as a good spot to eat. Afterwords, we wanted to head to the beach, but access to the beach was not obvious to us. Eventually, we found an entrance near a beach club called Ku De Ta. After walking on the beach and taking some pictures, we decided we would return for lunch there the next day. We discovered we could spend the day swimming and eating at the club as long as you spend a certain amount of money…which was an easily met requirement.

Lunch at the beach club was great. Liam and Michael had burgers and said they were the best burgers they had ever eaten. Afterwords, we managed to score some seats near the pool and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon.

Most of the remaining time in Seminyak was spent relaxing at our villa as we found the center of town a bit daunting. On our last night in Seminyak, we decided to head back to Ku De Ta for some appetizers and dinner. We had a lovely family meal and enjoyed one of Bali’s famous sunsets.

Relaxed and rejuvenated, the Collins crew was ready to head to Ubud.

A rare family photo with everyone smiling.